President's Letter

by Debra Evans

Planning is in full swing for the October meeting in Honolulu.
For example, conservators at PRCC have been reviewing traditional
hula "halaus" in order to select the best performers for our evening
event at Bishop Museum. We figure this will go down in history as
the most fun conservators have ever had at a conference. If this
does not lure you, check the preliminary list of presentations
below. Our program is by no means complete at this date, but already
we have a strong showing in the area of objects conservation and
expect to round out the program with other papers tentatively
proposed at this stage. We look forward to an exciting meeting and
especially to welcoming conservators from Mexico to our group for
the first time, thanks to the Friends of Mexico Foundation.

Please refer to the enclosed colored sheet which contains
additional information to enable you to make plans for the
conference. We will be sending another mailing to registrants in
September. Meanwhile, please call me if you have any questions. One
question I keep hearing is "Which hotel is closest to the meeting
place?" Our conference location, The Honolulu Academy of Art, is a
beautiful museum located across from a park; it is in a
residential/business area where there are no hotels. Most hotels are
in Waikiki, which is a short and direct bus ride from the
Academy.

I have also been asked for hotel recommendations or where other
WAAC members are staying. Apparently conservators prefer
togetherness! Regarding hotels, if price is not an issue, here are a
few special places: The Colony Surf (at a very quiet and pretty end
of Waikiki, across from the big park) and the Moana, Royal Hawaiian,
and Halekulani (the oldest hotels on the beach and very nice). In
the budget range, the hotels are considerably more anonymous. A
hotel used in United Airlines' "dollarwise" air/hotel package (and
by other agents listed on the colored sheet) is The Outrigger
Hobrun, which is at one end of Waikiki, near the Hilton Hawaiian
Village. I personally prefer this area and it is a few minutes
closer to the meeting site.

The most important point I can convey is that it is very
important to get your reservations early, particularly if you plan
to save money by using an air/hotel package. Regardless, October is
an especially popular month in Honolulu; there are many conventions
and airlines are booked far in advance.

Please make a point of voting for Vice-President and
Members-at-Large. I would like to thank Mark Watters, WAAC
Vice-President, and the nominating committee members, Leslie Kruth,
Rosamond Westmoreland, and Tatyana Thompson for gathering such an
impressive slate of candidates.

It has been a pleasure to serve as your president. I look forward
to hearing from the membership in my last two months of tenure and I
definitely look forward to seeing many of you in Honolulu in
October!